s LEARNING SEO FROM THE EXPERTS

LEARNING
SEO FROM
THE EXPERTS
s
seo
How to Master
Every Aspect of
Search Engine
Optimization for
Business Success
A publication of
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Learning seo from the experts
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learning seo from the experts
IS THIS BOOK RIGHT FOR ME?
Not quite sure if this ebook is right for you? See the below description to determine if
your level matches the content you are about to read.
INTRODUCTORY
Introductory content is for marketers who are new to the subject.
This content typically includes step-by-step instructions on how
to get started with this aspect of inbound marketing and learn its
fundamentals. After reading it, you will be able to execute basic
marketing tactics related to the topic.
INTERMEDIATE
This ebook!
Intermediate content is for marketers who are familiar with the
HubSpot’s All-in-One
Marketing Software
HubSpot brings your whole marketing
world together in one, powerful, integrated
system.
Get Found: Help prospects find you online
Convert: Nurture your leads and drive conversions
Analyze: Measure and improve your marketing.
More: See marketplace for apps and integrations
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SOCIAL
CONTACTS
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;
CONTACTS
DATABASE
WORKFLOWS
subject but have only basic experience in executing strategies and
tactics on the topic. This content typically covers the fundamentals
and moves on to reveal more complex functions and examples.
After reading it, you will feel comfortable leading projects with this
aspect of inbound marketing.
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SMART FIELDS
analytics
ADVANCED
Advanced content is for marketers who are, or want to be, experts
on the subject. In it, we walk you through advanced features of
this aspect of inbound marketing and help you develop complete
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mastery of the subject. After reading it, you will feel ready not only
to execute strategies and tactics, but also to teach others how to
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LEARNING SEO
FROM THE EXPERTS
5
learning seo from the experts
CONTENTS
Curated by Anum Hussain
KEYWORDS: UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTALS
Anum Hussain is an inbound marketer at
/7
anum hussain, hubspot
HubSpot focused on generating leads for the
HubSpot sales team through top-of-the-funnel
Mastering on-page seo
marketing strategies -- visual and written
/12
Greg shuey, seo.com
content creation, social media, and blogging.
She is an active writer for the HubSpot Internet
understanding off-page seo
Marketing Blog, has previously written for
/21
rebecca churt, hubspot
the Boston Globe and LinkedIn, and also
maintains her own blog as a media wizard at
anumhussain.com.
Follow me on twitter
@anummedia
the right way to build links
/26
stephanie chang, distilled
How social media influences seo
/38
dharmesh shah, HubSpot
how to increase clicks in serp
/53
rand fishkin, seomoz
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“
Solve for the
humans!
”
-Dharmesh Shah
g
Search engines have become a core resource for individuals looking for a
business, product, or service. Over the years, online search has reduced the
need for traditional means of searching, such as Yellow Pages.
Your business needs to adapt to the changes of the new consumer
searching landscape. In the words of HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah, “Solve
for the humans!”
learning seo from the experts
7
CHAPTER 1
KEYWORDS:
UNDERTSANDING
FUNDAMENTALS
Anum Hussain, HubSpot
Businesses no longer need to spend thousands of dollars on advertising in
directories and magazines. Every business with a website has the potential
to get found by more customers online through search engine optimization
(SEO) and inbound marketing.
Whether you have already invested in an SEO strategy or are just getting
started, this ebook will help you gain a stronger understanding of all aspects
in the SEO process. The ideas, best practices, and examples all come from
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SEO Basics: Understanding Keywords
Why Do Keywords Matter?
Once upon a time, marketers focused on strategizing which keywords to
Keywords or key phrases are simply the search terms someone types into
place across their web presence in order to increase their rankings in a
a search engine, such as Google or Bing, when they are looking for certain
search engine results page (SERP).
information. People are constantly using keywords: whether they are in
But the world of search engine optimization has been changing drastically --
search for a specific product or just browsing to conduct personal research.
particularly with the constant changes Google has been making to its search
algorithm over the past year. And all that emphasis you put on keyword
research and selection, in other words on-page SEO, is only worth 25% of
what actually impacts your spot in SERP.
The only problem is, you can’t truly master the other 75% -- off-page SEO
discussed later in this guide -- until you understand and master the basics.
Where Can I Learn SEO from the Experts?
95% of the U.S. Internet browsing population accesses search engines each
Off-Page SEO
On-Page SEO
month. Furthermore, the U.S. online population makes an average of 37
search engine visits per person per month.
That’s a whole lot of time spent searching various keyword and key phrase
combinations!
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learning seo from the experts
Determine Your Keywords
Track Your Keyword Success
Keywords are at the heart of SEO, and selecting the right ones can make
Now that you know what keywords to implement in your marketing strategy,
or break your SEO strategy. Compile a list of about ten keywords associated
be sure to follow their progress and ensure they’re returning the value you
with your product or services. Plug these keywords into Google’s Keyword
want from them.
Tool, and find variations that make sense for your business.
Let’s use HubSpot’s keyword tool to demonstrate how this process might
look like. The software continuously analyzes your keyword performance to
show you what keywords you’re ranking for, what the cost-per-click (CPC) for
those keywords are -- so you know how much you’re saving -- and how many
visits you’re sending to your website thanks to these keywords and/or key
phrases.
Use search volume and competition as a good measure for determing what
you can easily attack. But never settle on a list of 10-15 keywords, as the old
ways taught. Start with a small list, but continuously adapt and analyze your
choices as your business grows and adapts.
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What is On-Page SEO?
In the history of search engine optimization, the rank of a piece of content in
CHAPTER 2
mastering
on-page seo
Greg Shuey, SEO.com
search engine results has typically come down to two key drivers: relevancy
and authority built through content on your website. When optimizing your
content, focus your copy on specific keywords that match what people are
searching for online.
The first rule of on-page SEO is to think about what your target users might
be searching for and make sure those keywords are on the page. This
increases the likelihood of reaching those users as they go to Google, Bing
or other search engines.
That being said, on-page SEO is basically about two things:
1
Picking the best keywords around which
to base each of your pages
2
Making it clear to search engines that your
page revolves around those keywords
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On-Page Optimization: The Old Way
Search engine algorithms rank web pages based on numerous factors.
The basic premise is that a page will show up in search engine results
because the website has a page that mentions the searched for terms. Of
course, many websites use the same keywords on the same page.
Hundreds of tools are littered across the web that allow you to measure
the keyword density of a page. Some of them teach that more is better. As
a result, webmasters would crank out keyword-stuffed text that was not
On-Page Optimization: The New Way
Marketers should still be using keywords.
But rather than littering them throughout every aspect of your page, think
about the value you want each page to provide, and which keywords match
that value. And rather than repeating the same word over and over again,
you should use a diverse set of related keywords to help you rank for a
variety of long tail keywords.
For example:
These keywords would be stuffed in various places, including:
Build vs building
s s s
Strategy vs strategies
The page title
The meta description tag
The on-page headings
Aggressively throughout
the page content
Also rank for a verity of lateral keywords.
For example:
Lawyer vs attorney
Such tactics even ended up stripping out important keyword variations -- so
the page wouldn’t rank as well, or at all, for the related keywords.
Dentist vs oral surgeon
SEO vs inbound marketing
f
k
Link vs links
s s
interesting and/or provided a horrible user experience.
The URL
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k
k
Learning seo from the experts
k
14
k
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The Core Components of On-Page SEO
Meta Tags
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Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
Title tags and Meta descriptions are two of the most important tags when it
comes to SEO and enticing potential visitors to click through to your website.
Meta tags are the official data tags for each web page that are found inbetween the open and closing head tags in the HTML code. The most
popular Meta tags are the title tag, meta description, and keyword tag.
These tags alert search engines with relevant information describing the
content of the page, which helps the search engines decide if your website
is an appropriate listing in response to a particular search query.
A title tag is an HTML tag which contains a sentence of text describing the
contents of its associated webpage. These tags are the first aspect of your
page that a search engine crawler – (crawlers are what search engines use
to analyze the content of a site in response to a search to then present the
best results) comes across when visiting your website, so it’s important to
make a good first impression by optimizing them with your keywords and
brand. Titles generally run about 77 characters, so make sure to easy each
character wisely.
Meta descriptions are what appear on SERP describing the content of the
page being linked to. While these descriptions are not used by the search
engines to determine relevance, they are used by your visitors to determine
said relevancy and entice them to click – think about when you search! You
almost always read the description of each link before deciding to click,
right? Or at least skim. Make sure you include your keywords and the main
call-to-action right in this description.
TIP: Meta descriptions generally run about 160 characters. Don’t only use
those characters well, but stick to that limit so that when the description
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appears in Google it’s not cut off with ellipses!
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Localization
Content
On-page content is a critical component of onpage SEO. Content is what the search engine
crawlers need to associate your page with a
set of keywords and/or key phrases. Without
it, crawlers are left in the dark as to what your
page is about.
When building your content, it’s important to
remember to give the crawlers enough to bite
w
into. A hundred words typically isn’t enough copy for these crawlers to read
and understand what the content is about. And this content shouldn’t be
sections) punish websites for keyword stuffing.
Instead, you should write about your product or service or idea naturally, and
let your keyword variations naturally fall into place. If that doesn’t happen,
go back and spring in some variations into the content so that the same
Where appropriate, you should add localization. This is extremely important
to businesses who offer products and services to a specific geographic
region. If you are an attorney, you’ll want to have a page of content set up for
each location you service. When building your content, you’ll want to include
localized keywords so that the search engines know you have offices and
operate in certain locations.
Quick Action Items for Local Businesses
If you are a local business, be sure to optimize your location easily and
quickly with the following tools:
s s s
stuffed with keywords either, as some search engines (as you’ll learn in later
message gets across, just optimized!
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learning seo from the experts
.Google Places
.Bing Local
.Yahoo Local Listings
Streamline Your SEO Efforts
To help keep track your on-page optimization efforts, HubSpot built an easyto-use template that you can download here. Use it to continuously improve
your on-page SEO, making it a streamlined process so it can become
integrated into your natural routine.
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EASILY IMPLEMENT
On-PAGE SEO
STRATEGY
Are you tracking every
Facebook interaction
you have with your
leads? HubSpot not
only lets you track
every click on a link in
a social message, it
also lets you use that
data to compile lists of
influencers who you can
communicate with to
power your SEO efforts
through social links!
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21
CHAPTER 3
undERstandING
OFF-PAGE SEO
Rebecca Churt, HUBSPOT
REQUEST A DEMO
READ MORE
3 Blogging Software & Analytics: Create and measure your blog.
3 SEO Tips: Get Automatic on-page SEO tips as you create blog posts.
Conversion Analysis: See which of your posts generate the
3 Content
most leads and converting the most leads and customers.
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What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO is all about building online authority – trust and reputation –
for your website.
Off-page SEO has long been defined by the quantity, quality, and relevance
of links to your website that establish your SEO authority and ultimately
influence your search results ranking.
Authority historically was established as other websites linked to you;
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learning seo from the experts
Link Building
Link building is essentially the practice of building inbound links to help give
your website authority. The modern efforts of “earning” links are discussed
more in the next chapter.
Compelling Content
building your link portfolio. The problem, however, was that authority was
Yes, optimizing for off-page SEO is still about content marketing. After all,
almost entirely defined by just links.
without content it’s hard to earn those links. The best way to earn relevant
Essentially, off-page SEO used to be a fancy word for “getting more links,”
but now it should focus on earning links through multiple channels instead.
Understandably, it will require a paradigm shift to stop thinking about offpage as just link “building” and instead as link “earning.”
Your site’s authority is only partly based on analysis of the sites that link to
you. Off-page SEO is more than just link building (link building itself will be
discussed more in the next chapter). The way you diversify authority for your
website is through the conversations people are having about your brand
and the references they make to it. A diversified link portfolio should look
something like what I detail throughout this chapter.
links from other sites to yours is to create unique, relevant content that
can quickly gain popularity online, particularly with your target audience.
The more useful, relevant and compelling your content is, the greater the
chances someone else will find that content valuable and link to it.
Your content must align with your target audience – that persona that
surmises your ideal customer. Content must also be authentic and unique,
and ultimately solve a problem or answer a question. That content then
also should be easily sharable which combined with solid on-page SEO best
practices makes for awesome “link bait.”
Link Bait: Any content that
is created for the purpose of
attracting multiple readers &
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Co-Marketing
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learning seo from the experts
Social Media
Co-marketing defines the efforts of lots of cross promoting, networking and
Social media hasn’t always been on the radar as part of off-page SEO. When
community building. It’s a partnership between two or more companies
it first came to surface it was often being used inappropriately (still is by
in which both companies jointly market each other’s content, products or
some today). Users or businesses thought to basically spam social networks
services.
and followers instead of putting real thought and work behind it. To them
The great thing about co-marketing is, like the idea with guest posting, that
you have access to another company’s social networks, prospects, leads
and/or customers, which ultimately increases your reach. And what better
social media was just one more way to get links. Social media in some way
is the new forums or blog commenting with an opportunity to have real
conversations.
than to have one or more companies brag about the content that you are
Read more about how social media impacts SEO in the chapter by
creating, especially since it benefits them too? It’s brilliant.
Dharmesh Shah!
g
g
'
'
g
'
g
PR
When you think of PR you may think of it as just an announcement that
blasts multiple new sources. However, well planned and optimized PR can
be awesome for your SEO efforts. PR should promote genuine and ethical
dialogue driven content to improve a brand’s organic search engine results.
Effective PR outreach should include more than the traditional publication
channels. Your strategy should include outreach to bloggers, industry
influencers, and social media leaders.
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learning seo from the experts
Why Search Engines Care About Links
Search engine algorithms rank web pages based on numerous factors.
CHAPTER 4
THE RIGHT WAY
TO BUILD LINKS
Stephanie Chang, Distilled
The basic premise is that a page will show up in search engine results
because the website had mentioned the terms that were being searched
for on the website page. Of course, many websites use the same keywords
on the same page. But in order for search engines to determine how these
pages should be ranked, they take into consideration two major factors:
1
The quantity of links that point
to that page and site.
2
The quality of links that point to
that page and site.
The more trustworthy your page appears to be, the higher your page will
rank in search engine results
(See search ranking factors for more details).
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The Value of A Link
The Wrong Way to Build Links
The value of a link serves two major benefits:
The initial purpose of search engines counting the quantity and quality
1
2
Links increase the authority and trustworthiness
of a page to search engines, which increases the
overall authority of that website.
of links linking back to any webpage was to ensure that only those pages
providing valuable and trustworthy content to their users would be ranked
highly in the search engine results.
Unfortunately, this provided opportunities to game the system and find
Links help search engines connect the relevancy
of a page with specific keywords -- based on the
keywords that are used in a link’s anchor text.
easier, quicker solutions to build massive quantities of links back to
webpagesin order to rank highly for different search results.
To better understand the true power of link building, let’s review the sneaky
and quick link-building tactics some sites employed, and how search
versus
Buy power tools at Bob’s Hardware Store
The second link with the targeted keyword “power tools” will likely rank
higher in the search engines.
'
Bob’s Hardware Store
'
hypothetically a page was linked to in one of the following ways:
engines developed algorithmic changes to combat it.
'
'
'
Anchor text is the clickable text on a hyperlink. For example, let’s say
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Directories
The Problem with Directories
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Paid Links
The Problem with Paid Links
Paid links are links garnered in exchange for payment. They may include
A good directory’s intent is to categorize the internet into different
a larger network of link buyers and sellers usually involving a link network
categories/subcategories, while providing links to good websites in those
or a group of low-quality sites that link to a specific webpage to increase
categories. Although there are legitimate directory websites, many were
the authority of a website. Other times, there may be a reciprocal linking
built solely for the purpose of building links back to webpages without
program, where a group of websites link to one another.
consideration of link quality. This is the wrong way to build links.
How the Search Engines Fixed It
Paid links are like paying someone to be your wingman to impress a girl
rather than having a genuine friend by your side who can vouch for how
great you really are!
Several studies have shown that in the past year, search engines (especially
Google) have started removing free directories from their index. This means
that the links gained from those directories are no longer counted towards
a website’s overall link quality/quantity count! This also implies that relying
on directories to build links to a website is a short-term strategy -- especially
since Google has started taking action on both directories and the websites
that have relied on this tactic to rank highly in the search engine results.
How the Search Engines Fixed It
All the aforementioned methodologies go against search engine guidelines,
specifically Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, and can result in severe
consequences. Search engines are able to spot these types of link building
activities by detecting website registration connections or finding websites
that follow specific linking patterns.
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Article Marketing
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learning seo from the experts
Consequences of Low-Quality
Link Building Tactics
There are signs that low-quality link building tactics, such as the three just
The Problem with Article Marketing
Article marketing involves writing one unique article, and then rearranging
the words to transform that one article into multiple versions. This
rearranged article will then be placed on different, usually low-quality article
sites with highly optimized anchor text links.
This tactic helped a website from being penalized by search engines for
duplicate content (the exact same content across lots of different sites), and
mentioned, will remain a short-term strategy. It’s clear that search engines
don’t like ranking websites that take actions purely for the purpose of
ranking and not for benefit of the user’s experience. Or in Dharmesh Shah’s
words, for the “humans.”
Over time, search engine algorithms have also become increasingly complex
to fight what search engines view as spammy tactics that try to game their
system.
boosted both page strength and relevance.
How the Search Engines Fixed It
The search engines now identify low quality content through user
engagement, and by correlating website features. Networks of sites where
you can place this kind of content are even easier for them to identify. As a
marketer, the primary warning sign should be sites where you can post your
content with no editorial oversight from the website owner.
“
SEO is not about optimizing
for search engines, it’s about
optimizing for humans.
”
-Dharmesh Shah
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Google’s Search Algorithm
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The Right Way to Build Links
Modern link building focuses on high-quality, original content that provides
Over the past two years, there have been advances to search engine
algorithms that specifically target websites involved in these low-quality link
building strategies. Google has launched two major algorithmic changes.
1 Panda
Panda was designed to target low-quality sites, such as article marketing
sites. This update was significant because it affected approximately 12% of
value to users and incorporates an involved audience.
Although this type of link building isn’t easy nor quick, it is the best
safeguard against future search engine algorithms, as authoritative, wellmanaged websites are the type of sites that search engines want to see
rank highly in their results.
High-quality, unique content on a website that builds links can come in many
forms, such as:
all search results and shifted the viability of low-quality content sites who
had depended on these link building tactics as their business model.
2 Penguin
Penguin targeted over-optimized websites, such those that had too much
keyword-based anchor text -- especially from low-quality sites. It also further
Company Blogs
Write appealing content that other people will WANT to link to.
Visual Content
targeted sites involved in link building schemes, such as the ones previously
Powerful, unique, or even comical, images lead people to link to
mentioned.
your website. This includes video content as well!
Both Penguin and Panda are periodically refreshed. These major algorithmic
changes force sites to focus on organic methods for garnering links.
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Product Launches
Building anticipating around a product launch inspires people to
talk about your business, which can lead to links to your site.
Guest Blogging
Creating valuable content for other websites provides an easy to
link back to your business -- be sure to provide the guest site with
beneficial content, and don’t bury the entire post in links.
Link building can also come from building a targeted and involved
community. The more regular visitors a site has, and the more passionate
those fans are, the more likely webpages will be read, shared, and linked to.
A perfect example is My Starbuck’s Idea, where users can pitch ideas about
the next Starbuck’s offering.
s
MAKE SURE YOUR
SITE GETS FOUND
37
learning seo from the experts
You don’t need to hire
a SEO expert -- just
listen to the experts in
this guide and own SEO
yourself! HubSpot’s
built-in search engine
optimization makes it
easy to pick the right
keywords and find linkbuilding opportunities
that increase your
website’s search rank.
REQUEST A DEMO
READ MORE
3 Keyword Analysis: Find and track your most effective keywords.
3 Link Tracking: Track inbound links and the leads they’re generating.
3 Page-Level SEO: Diagnose and fix poorly ranking pages.
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learning seo from the experts
How Social Media Influences SEO
As mentioned earlier in this guide, SEO has a lot to do with relevancy and
CHAPTER 5
how social
media
influences seo
authority. But recently, things have changed a bit.
More and more, search engines have begun to incorporate social context
into their search results. And it’s high time we dived into what role social
context is playing in SEO, and how marketers can adjust their strategies to
match the changing character of search. So without further ado, let’s get
into the nitty gritty of what’s being called “social search” and learn how it
affects marketers.
Dharmesh Shah, HUBSPOT
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learning seo from the experts
Examples of Social Search
What is Social Search?
“Social search” is an evolving term for the way in which search engines
factor a user’s social network -- also referred to as social graph -- into how
1 Google+ Your World
results are displayed after a search query.
In social search, content that has a social connection to you in some way is
prioritized. A social connection could mean someone you are linked to via
Facebook, Twitter, or any other major social network.
Alternately, some forms of social search prioritize content that has been
shared by social media influencers, even if those experts aren’t directly tied
to you.
In early 2012, Google unveiled Google Plus Your World, a unique integration
between Google search results and the Google Plus social network that,
when activated, prioritizes content that has been shared or received a +1 by
your Google network.
In addition to Google Plus Your World, Google social search results from
multiple networks are now mixed throughout your results based on their
relevance; and content with ties to your network are displayed with a higher
'
'
'
relevance than their counterparts. Searchers only see social search results
when they are logged into Google and have their social networks connected.
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2 Bing Social Search
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3 Facebook Social Search
In summer of 2012, Bing announced a new version of its search engine. It
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has indicated that he’s interested in
included an entirely new layout that closely integrates a searcher’s social
launching a social search engine powered by Facebook user activity. He
network into the results displayed for a given search term.
explained, “Search engines are really evolving towards giving you a set of
According to Bing, the social results -- which include the ability to directly
ask advice from your Facebook network -- “complement the standard search
results without compromising them, offering you the chance to start a
answers… like, I have a specific question, answer this question for me. And
when you think about it from that perspective, Facebook is pretty uniquely
positioned to answer a lot of the questions that people have.”
conversation and get advice from your friends, experts and enthusiasts right
According to Zuckerberg, Facebook handles close to 1 billion search queries
within the search experience.”
per day already. Many of these searches are for individuals or company
pages, but the potential exists for inquiries related to decision-making or
reviews.
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Learning seo from the experts
Social Search and Inbound Marketing
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learning seo from the experts
Audit Your Existing Strengths
Even if the social search playing field hasn’t been completely defined
Take a look at your top ranking and most shared content. Is there overlap?
yet, one of the key takeaways from the early actions of Google, Bing, and
If you’ve found a type of content that is simultaneously strong in search and
Facebook is that as marketers, we need to start seeing our search engine
frequently shared, it’s worth optimizing that content even further.
optimization strategy and our social media strategy as utterly intertwined.
Here’s how you can do just that.
Step
1
Update Company Profiles
Make sure your social media tools
are informed by your SEO tools.
The best way to come out on top of social search is to have a fully integrated
marketing platform where social media and SEO are fully linked.
If, as in the example above, I search Bing for “Inbound Marketing,” a few
things will happen.
1) Bing will give me traditional search results.
2) Bing will show me friends who have written or shared “inbound
Ha, of course we’d say that -- we sell that platform.
marketing” content.
Truly though, having a blog with built-in social sharing and as-you-type SEO
3) Bing will bring in “People Who Know” who include the keyword “inbound
recommendations definitely helps. With or without that kind of technology,
marketing” in their profile or frequently shared content.
however, there are some steps you can take to leverage the growing use of
social search.
For the latter circumstance, it doesn’t hurt to put your main keywords as
part of your company’s profile online. The combination of that profile and the
strength of your content and shares will add up.
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Make Your Top Keywords Social
Make a list of the keywords for which you want to rank highly. Does the
content you share on social media and your blog cover those keywords?
Zero in on one or two of your most desirable keywords and find ways to
make content under those keywords more shareable.
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learning seo from the experts
Step
2
Find and encourage your social
media influencers.
The reason social is such a natural extension of search is that it adds both
relevancy and authority. Think about this: According to Nielsen Research
92% of consumers worldwide trust recommendations from friends and
family more than any form of advertising. This is up from 74% in 2007. As
At a bare minimum, include social sharing buttons on your content. Beyond
recommendations from peers become more prominent online, the influence
that you may want to experiment with encouraging social sharing through
they levy will weigh more heavily into activity on search and social sites
pay-by-tweet downloads or using easy share links throughout your posts, like
combined. For this reason, it’s wise to start thinking of your company or
in this example.
organization’s fans as extensions of your inbound marketing team.
k
k
k
k
f
k
Find Your Influencers
Spend some time to get to know the people who consistently share your
content. Pull together a list of contacts with more than a thousand followers
and a history of engagement in your content. Knowing your social media
influencers will help you expand your reach online and ultimately increase
the rate at which your content gets found online.
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Nurture Your Influencers
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learning seo from the experts
Step
3
Watch for changing factors in
social search.
Once you’ve discovered your evangelists, think about ways to nurture and
encourage them. At the simplest (and possibly most meaningful) level, find a
way to thank them for spreading the word about your company. As a second
step, consider inviting them to a special open-house or providing them
sneak peeks of upcoming news or announcements. The HubSpot software
allows you to easily compile a smart list of social media influencers in order
to nurture through email communication.
While there are a few core principles at work in social search, individual
factors will continue to develop in the near future. As you’re considering
the social channels you use, think about the role each plays in your search
engine of choice.
Don’t Rule Out Google+
When Google+ first entered the social media space, many marketers
wondered if it was really worth diverting marketing attention into yet another
social network. Forbes magazine’s Paul Tassi even wrote it in a eulogy last
year. But when the parent company of said social network is the biggest
search engine in the world and starts to integrate its content into search
results, it’s worth dipping a toe in the water. My advice? Take these quick
steps to create and optimize your Google+ page and then experiment with
Note: Be careful when nurturing your influencers that you are not offering
how content does on it.
them benefits in exchange for talking about your company. That’s not
inboundy at all and really questionable, ethically. In fact, in some cases, it
may even be illegal.
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Don’t Rule Out Bing
Not only did Bing account for 30% of all searches the springof 2012, Bing
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learning seo from the experts
Step
4
Remember the golen rule.
also has a more diverse social search offering than any other search engine.
With Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Klout and Foursquare tied in, Bing may give
Years ago, when HubSpot first started teaching people about search engine
social active companies an edge.
optimization, one rule was essential: Above all else, create good, useful
content. The rest will follow. From Panda to Penguin, and everything else
Keep Your Facebook Pages Active
While search is clearly not Facebook’s
primary purpose yet, Facebook
does have a team of engineers,
including former Google engineer Lars
Rasmussen, working on an improved
search engine for the site. Futhermore,
data from HubSpot’s social media
scientist Dan Zarrella even shows
that there’s a relationship between
you’ve learned from the previous experts, search has changed quite a bit in
the last few years, but that cardinal rule has held strong.
Even with the rapidly growing influence social sharing has on search
results, the good news is if you’re creating good content, you’re already
half-way there. Useful content is by nature more search-friendly than salesoriented content. It is also more likely to be shared. The increasingly formal
relationship between search and social is really just a natural extension to
what has always been true -- content that is relevant and can be trusted
as authoritative will continue to drive both your search and social media
marketing.
Facebook shares and link building -a major aspect of off-page SEO!
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^
52
LET SOCIAL MEDIA
FUEL YOUR SEO
Are you tracking every
Facebook interaction
you have with your
leads? HubSpot not
only lets you track
every click on a link in
a social message, it
also lets you use that
data to compile lists of
influencers who you can
communicate with to
power your SEO efforts
through social links!
Learning seo from the experts
CHAPTER 6
how to
increase
clicks in SERP
REQUEST A DEMO
READ MORE
3 Lookup: Automatically look up social information for your leads.
Listen: Listen to chatter and track clicks on all of your social posts.
3
Segment: Segment your leads based on the social activity.
3
Trigger: Trigger emails, update profile information, and adjust your
3
lists based on social interactions.
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Rand Fishkin, SEOMOZ
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The Search Ranking Myth
Historically, traffic from search engines has been about a very singular
pursuit -- that of rankings.
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learning seo from the experts
The Value of Ranking CTR
Today, queries don’t just return a list of ten blue, ordered links. They return
results with images, videos, profile pictures, and all manner of meta data
that help searchers choose the best result.
While you want to land on the first page, there’s much more to optimizing for
SERP placement.
Ranking #1 years ago brought ~40% of the traffic to a particular query
results page. Today, that figure is less than 20%. Meanwhile, rankings in
Higher rankings lead to more clicks and visits from interested searchers,
lower positions have gained some of those clicks. Here’s a few reasons why:
and that search traffic is uniquely valuable because of its high relevancy and
timeliness -- people search when they’re interested or ready to perform an
action.
google+
However, in the last few years, the relentless focus on rankings alone has
ignored the reality of change in the world of search results, and the value of
clickthrough rate (CTR).
s
G
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IMAGES
DATE
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Learning seo from the experts
Improve Rank CTR with Author Images
5
In order to see an author image appear in Google search, you need to have
“authorship.” Here’s how to do it:
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learning seo from the experts
6
Furthermore, make sure that byline name matches the name on
your Google+ profile.
Visit Google’s Authorship page, and submit your email address to
Google. Regardless of the number of articles you publish on this
domain, you’ll only need to go through this process once.
1
Make sure your Google+ profile page has a profile photo that is a
2
Make sure you have an email address (for example, [email protected]
recognizable headshot.
7
In the “About” section of your Google+ profile, make sure the
profile discovery box, “Help others discover my profile in search,”
is checked.
com) on the same domain as your content (hubspot.com). If you
don’t have an email address on the same domain, Google has an
alternative method for linking your content to your Google+ profile.
Learn how here.
3
4
In the “About” section of your Google+ profile, add that email
Once Google approves your authorship request, your Google+ profile
address so it’s easier for Google to associate your Google+
will update with the domain on which you’re a content contributor in the
account with your domain.
“Contributor to” section of your Google+ profile. By default, it will also
In addition, make sure each article you publish on that domain has
a clear byline identifying you as the author (for example, “By John
Doe” or “Author: John Doe”).
automatically make your email address visible to the public. If you want to
keep your email address private on your page, you can change its visibility
here.
You may also receive an email confirmation from Google once your request
for Authorship has been approved.
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59
The Holistic View of Search Rankings
When optimizing for search
traffic today, marketers can’t
think just about rankings, they
s
need to be holistic in their
approach to the visibility and
appearance of listings.
Google+ author profiles, as
explained, can make headshots
appear alongside descriptions.
Video XML Sitemaps can be
Conclusion
and additional
resources
used to show a video capture image. Rich snippets protocols can be applied
to e-commerce listings for pricing, availability, quantity and other consumerfriendly details. And these are only the tip of the iceberg.
A marketer who dives deep on this topic can find dozens of opportunities
to enhance their listing and earn more traffic. Because these days, it’s not
enough to rank. Marketers need to earn their clicks.
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s
yellow
pages
The world of search began a long time ago. Where we once upon a time
used Yellow Pages as our search tool of choice, we’ve now transitioned to
search engines.
61
START TRACKING
YOUR SEO SUCCESS
Take your search engine
optimization to the next level
and find out how many leads
and customers your SEO
efforts are reeling in. Get
a free demo of HubSpot’s
sofware to find out!
And after reading through each chapter in this guide, you should have a
start-to-finish understanding of every aspect of search engine optimization.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that all this won’t come together with a
snap of a finger!
Tackle one chapter at a time. Start by understanding what SEO involves and
what it takes. Then work on on-page SEO until it’s fully integrated into your
efforts. After that, you can expand on your SEO strategy with off-page tactics
http://bitly.com/HubSpot-Demo
and truly start seeing the full picture come together for success.
Happy optimizing!
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